This invention relates generally to stimulation of animal behavior. More specifically the invention relates to systems and methods for causing animals, including cattle and horses, to ingest more food. Other behavioral modifications may also be possible within the scope of the invention.
In 2011 there were approximately 100 million cattle and calves in the United States. Each of these cattle, referred to herein individually as cows, whether male or female, is cared for so as to either produce milk or be slaughtered for beef and other meat products. Both the amount of milk and the amount of beef and other meat products produced by a cow is greatly dependent on the amount of feed intake by the animal. Additionally, animals which are sick, pregnant, or recovering from being sick or pregnant can benefit from increased feed intake.
The equine industry, while not as large in terms of number of animals, is responsible for a large amount of market capital, and could also benefit from novel behavioral modification systems. While revenue in the equine production market in the U.S. is a modest two billion dollars per year industry, many downstream industries are affected by the equine production market, including the 400-plus billion dollar worldwide horse betting industry.
Embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for stimulating animal eating behavior, thereby increasing the productivity and quality of products delivered by the relevant industry.